Reddit Terms of Service…. What are you agreeing to?

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I’ve used Reddit for awhile, and I have browsed through the Terms of Service, but have never read them in depth until today. I found somethings that surprised me.

Within the first couple of paragraphs I was surprised to find that they can suspend or terminate your account anytime that, “for violations of this agreement or for any other reason we choose.” So they have this agreement saying what you can and can’t do, but even if you follow it if they decide to they can terminate your account for no reason. Which made me wonder what their other reasons could be.

When you get to the section where it talks about your content that you post, Reddit had this to say, “By submitting user content to reddit, you grant us a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive, unrestricted, worldwide license to reproduce, prepare derivative works, distribute copies, perform, or publicly display your user content in any medium and for any purpose, including commercial purposes…” So just by posting on their sight you allow them to use your content for free and to do as they want with it or, “…and to authorize others to do so.” They can give your content to others who can use your content for free.

If you have used Reddit you know it is broke down into SubReddits, which are different pages where people can post and let it get be seen by people who share the same interests. When it comes to the Terms of Service Reddit said, “Subreddits may create their own rules and enforce them as they see fit,” So not only do you have to follow Reddit’s Terms of Service you also need to follow SubReddit Terms of Service, or they can block you from the Sub.

Reddit goes into talking about what would happen if a lawsuit happens in result of something on their site. They say that if something happens, either by you or a third party you agree to keep Reddit, “harmless from and defend them against any claims, costs, damages, losses, expenses, and any other liabilities, including attorneys’ fees and costs,” So if you were to sue Reddit for something, you would have to hire and pay a lawyer for yourself, but you would also have to pay the defense lawyer representing Reddit. So it’s probably not a good idea to sue Reddit.

These are only a few interesting things I found that I agreed to when I signed up for Reddit, there were others hidden in the text, but these were the ones that jumped out at me.